TravelNewsAsia.com

Hong Kong Aiming to Claim Asian U20s Sevens Title This Weekend

Travel News Asia Videos Podcasts Latest Travel News Asia Wednesday, 17 December 2014
 

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) has named the squad selected for this weeks Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) Under 20s Sevens Series.

Hong Kong will face off against China, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates in a full round-robin tournament on the coming Friday and Saturday at Kings Park in Kowloon (19-20 December 2014).

2014 marks the inaugural year of the Asian U20s Sevens Series as ARFU looks to enhance competitiveness across the region in advance of the debut of rugby sevens in the Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Hong Kong won the opening leg this summer in Johor Bahru, Malaysia and will be looking to claim the Asian U20s Sevens title with a win in front of their home audiences in the Series finale this weekend.

A victory will see Hong Kongs U20s complete an unbeaten run in ARFU junior competition in 2014 after winning the Junior World Rugby Trophy qualifier earlier this year in Colombo, Sri Lanka. That victory qualified Hong Kong for the World Rugby Junior World Rugby Trophy that will be held in Portugal next April.

If the U20s claim the Series title this weekend it will also mark a clean sweep of elite mens sevens titles for Hong Kong in the region, as the mens senior sevens squad claimed the ARFU Asian Sevens Series title in October in Beijing.

The U20s team are excited to have the opportunity to close out the years campaign in front of home audiences. Home advantage is always great, said team firebrand Hugo Stiles. I played in the JWRT and we had a great crowd for every game. Everyones parents were there cheering us on, so its a lovely atmosphere to have when we are at home. Hopefully we will see similar support at Kings Park.

Stiles enthusiasm was matched by Hugo Chui Ho Ching who commented on the relative rarity of international tournaments at this level in Hong Kong. Home support is going to be a huge advantage for us. Its rare to have an international youth tournament like this in Hong Kong so it is our honour to host. As players, we need to make sure that we repay the Union for offering to host this event with some silverware.

The selectors have gone with a tried and tested combination for the finale with eleven of the 12-man squad having represented Hong Kong at the opening series event in Johor Bahru.

Leighton Asia HKCC hooker Alex Post and Societe Generale Valleys Liam Owens have been named as co-captains for the squad, which features several other HKRFU Premiership players in Hugo Stiles (Valley), Hugo Chui Ho Ching and Richard Lewis, who made is senior fifteens debut in last months Ustinov Cup series versus Russia, from Natixis HKFC and Calvin Hunter and Daniel Davidson, both of Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers.

From outside the Premiership, Joshua Clery of Discovery Bay Pirates has also been tipped for the final squad, as has City RFCs Eric Kwok Pung Nga. Kwok will look to cap a strong season as he was present in both Hong Kongs opening series win in Malaysia and the JWRT victory in Sri Lanka where he proved a scoring threat.

A trio of United Kingdom-based university players have also returned for the finale including Rupert Phillips (University of Brighton), Jason Jeyam (Hartpury College) and Tomos Howells (University of Wales in Cardiff). Phillips and Jeyam were both in the squad for the opening series event in Malaysia.

Hong Kong will face a stiffer test this week compared to the opening leg as China, Chinese Taipei and South Korea - all strong competitors at Asian age grade levels - are marking their Series debut this week.

Malaysia have always been quite tough but in the second leg we have South Korea and China, who we know are quite fierce, so we expect it will be a tougher competition, said Stiles.

Head coach Fan Shun Kei, himself a former age grade and mens sevens player, commented on the teams build-up saying, Our preparations are now in their final stages and things have progressed well.

The guys returning from university have integrated well with the locally based players and now we are focusing on putting everything together for our game plan for the tournament as we bid to become the inaugural Asian U20s Sevens champions, said Fan.

Hong Kong currently tops the table on six points ahead of runners-up Malaysia on five points.

Hong Kong U20s Squad: ARFU U20s Sevens (Hong Kong)

Richard Lewis (Natixis Hong Kong Football Club), Alex Post* (Leighton Asia Hong Kong Cricket Club), Calvin Hunter, (Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers), Joshua Clery, (Discovery Bay), Rupert Phillips (University of Brighton), Jason Jeyam (Hartpury College), Liam Owens* (Societe Generale Valley), Hugo Stiles, (Valley), Hugo Chui (HKFC), Tomos Howells (University of Wales in Cardiff), Erick Kwok Pung Nga (City RFC), Daniel Davidson (USRC Tigers). [*=co-captains]

HKRFU, Hong Kong, Rugby, Sevens

Subscribe to our Travel Industry News RSS Feed Travel Industry News RSS Feed from TravelNewsAsia.com. To do that in Outlook, right-click the RSS Feeds folder, select Add a New RSS Feed, enter the URL of our RSS Feed which is: https://www.travelnewsasia.com/travelnews.xml and click Add. The feed can also be used to add the headlines to your website or channel via a customisable applet. Have questions? Please read our Travel News FAQ. Thank you.

     
Advertising
Advertising
Copyright © 1997-2024 TravelNewsAsia.com